Tag Archives: universal music

Virgin, Universal team for iTunes attack

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virgin-media-logoYet more activity in the all-you-can-eat music subscription space, with Universal teaming up with Virgin Media to promise a music download subscription service for broadband users.

Touted as the “world’s first unlimited music download subscription service”. Virgin Media’s broadband customers will be able to stream and download as many songs and albums as they like from Universal’s artists. These songs will play back on any iPod, MP3 player, mobile phone or computer. The music can then be kept forever.

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MOG music websites draw triple traffic

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The MOG music blogging platform has confirmed it has surpassed 3 million unique visitors per month, according to Quantcast.com, tripling its site traffic in less than three months.

The MOG Music Network (MMN) – MOG’s advertising network for independent music blogs and music websites, which launched in August – now includes over 200 of the world’s music blogs, such as Glorious Noise, DiscoMusic.com, Rock on the Streets and the controversial MetalSucks, the company said.

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Universal goes Dada.net for mobile music

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Universal Music has reached yet another deal to offer music in DRM-free MP3 format to music fans – even while the company hasn’t yet offered catalogue in the format to 65 million iTunes customers.

The new attempt to support a disruptive service this time champions one-year-old Sony BMG-owned service, Dada.net, which will now offer its users DRM-free full track MP3 downloads and ringtones for a monthly fee.

Dada is the only company to offer its content through all major mobile carriers – but where this gets more interesting is that the company “expects to be able to offer users over-the-air MP3 downloads to mobile devices in the coming weeks,” it said in the release announcing the Universal link. (Important to note this deal appears US only at this juncture). Continue reading →

Universal Music plans own music video channel

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Universal Music has yet another DIY plan – this time it’s mulling the launch of its very own music video portal, similar to what broadcaster NBC has done with Hulu.

The music video website would offer music videos, interviews and all manner of artist-focused videos. The world’s largest music company is also keen to carry music videos from other labels too.

The move is seen as a twin strategic response to Continue reading →

MySpace Music launches – wut – no indies??

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MySpace will launch its long-expected MySpace Music service in the US – and has secured music from all the majors, including the last minute addition of EMI – but failed to agree terms with the indie labels.

The hybrid ads-funded streaming and paid-for download business lets users build as many playlists as they want, each containing up to 100 songs which can be streamed at no cost.

MySpace users in the US will encounter a new page in their profiles called “My Music” where they will be able to create playlists. My Music will contain a default initial playlist called “My Profile Song History” that contains all the songs subscribers have added to their profiles until now. The music search engine has been improved so that users can search not only by artist name but also by song and album titles.
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Universal goes DRM-free with 7digital

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UK-based online music service, 7digital, has today begun selling music from Universal Music as 320k DRM-free MP3 downloads – the first time music from that particular major label has been made available in this way.

There’s been no announcement made of the move, which is highly significant as it comes at a point at which Universal has still failed to agree permission for Apple to offer its content DRM-free through the iTunes Plus service.
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Allman Bros. sue over iTunes, ringtones

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The Allman Brothers Band is suing Universal Music, demanding a higher slice of the money the label earns from selling songs online through services such as iTunes.

The band claims it’s the victim of “digital exploitation,” and demands more royalties from sales.

The Allman Brothers Band is demanding at least $13 million and additional royalties from sales of newly configured compact discs and digital downloads for use on telephone ring tones.
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Universal stabs iTunes, launches ‘Lost Tunes’

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Universal Music has today introduced its own cross-platform music download service, offering rare tracks at near lossless quality – and has called the service ‘LostTunes’, in an indirect stab at Apple’s iTunes service,

Available online at Lost Tunes, Universal describes the service as a “groundbreaking online download store dedicated to exclusives, rarities and overlooked classics”.

Lost Tunes is a major project for Universal Music which began just over a year ago, with a dedicated team and have been searching through the Universal Music archives for forgotten gems.
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Universal Music ‘not worried about Apple’…

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Universal Music Group International chairman and chief executive, Lucian Grainge, doesn’t want to destroy Apple’s iTunes with the launch of the new Sky music service, and nor does he want every file-sharer knocked off the internet.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Grainge admitted file-sharing to be something that keeps him awake at night, saying, “The fact of the matter is it is illegal. Piracy is illegal. Peer to peer is [long pause] unfair.”
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Universal, Sky team on ‘iTunes-killer’

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News is breaking that Universal Music in the UK and Ireland this afternoon announced a joint venture with Sky to launch a DRM-free hybrid subscription and MP3 download service.
For a single monthly subscription, music fans will get unlimited listening to a huge choice of songs as well as the opportunity to download tracks to own forever.  Customers will be able to choose to stream songs on-demand for immediate listening or download tracks for playback at any time, all through one subscription. A range of subscription options will be available, offering different download packages.
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